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OK, I'm at a dead end

here's the setup and ive clearanced the carbon fiber and got a new prophecy loader thats set up on its highest speed.

the body is heavily modified and ive noticed a couple sharp spots that have been polished and smoothed over.

switched to a larger bore barrel retuned the lvl 10... twice... but at this point im open to anything

EDIT: after the video, a good cleaning and a new hopper with fresh batteries I tried again. 3 balls broke in a row and then I had bolt stick... when i say bolt stick... the bolt was all the way FORWARD!

posting before watching the vid
1) ditch the hopper and hand feed. eliminate the possibility of the hopper breaking the paint BEFORE getting into the breech.
2) where is the paint breaking? if its in the breech, then its the gun. if its in the barrel, then its in the barrel.
3) if the bolt is sticking forward, then its being hung up on something. if not the ball detent, then look at the feedneck. it might be sticking in and catching the bolt. examine it to see if there are marks on the bolt.

after watching the vid
4) check the length of the trigger rod.
5) check the length of the on/off rod.
6) make sure that the powertube is screwed down all the way, so that the bolt is coming to rest, where it should be and not being pushed forward a little bit.
7) are the screws holding the gun together, in snuggly?
8) have you tried eliminating the other parts of the gun, i.e. changing the body, frame, or valve to see if its one specific part that's giving you trouble?

it doesn't hurt to step back and examine the gun with the eye. mags are simple in design and implementation. there is a certain symbiosis of the parts. granted, you've modded just about everything, so it could be anything. one part, one oring could throw everything out of balance, or it could be a mass of everything not being in sync with each other. it might be a feng shui thing, but if you understand how the parts work together, it helps figuring out how the gun works and why its doing what it is.

side note- unless you have an expensive gauge where its calibrated to a certain +/-, gauges will more than likely be wrong. it could be off 1%, which at 800psi, could be actually 790psi or 810psi. if its worse, like 10%, that 800 gauge could be as high as 900psi, or as low as 700psi. i never trust gauges and only use them as a general way to get into the ballpark and see what the gun likes.

Valken Graffiti is amazing paint, but breaks real easily. Then again, I've never had any issues using that in my Mags. As for cold weather, that shouldn't affect the performances at all. I've played all winter long with my mags with no ill effect.

Also, like Nobody said, have you tried eliminating the other parts of the gun, i.e. changing the body, frame, or valve to see if its one specific part that's giving you trouble?

Sorry I missed this one.. just watched the vid... those "efficiency mod" really arent a good idea on anything other than a 12gram powered pump.. and even then they are questionable. AGD made the dump chamber the size it is for a reason. By reducing it, you need to increase the pressure in it to move the bolt and fire the ball because you have decreased volume. A.I.R. valves were like that a while back and AGD figured out that it was causing a lot of ball breaks. They then increased the dump chamber size.

First thing I would try other than new paint and making sure your bolt spring is good would be to remove that efficiency mod....

I also noticed after watching the video, that you mentioned the X-valve has an efficiency insert. A side effect of the higher efficiency is that the pressure is higher on the ball - it's harder on paint. If you're using very brittle paint, and it has cooled down to 45*, and you're using a forcefeed loader coupled with an efficiency insert-mod X-valve, that might just be your soupy combination.

On top of the efficiency mod, the short barrel brings your ball pressure up also (for the same velocity). Do you have your foamy in place? It helps space the ball off the face of the bolt. Just between the efficiency mod and the short barrel, you are pushing the limits. Throw some weak paint in there and you have trouble.

My son pops one or two weak balls per day with a pump mag and an old minimag shorty barrel and no foamy. He shoots so fast it's hard to tell if he's tripping over the ball drop or blowing them up, but the problem seems to have doubled since he went to the short barrel. The efficiency mod (like flyingpootang's washers) was good with CO2 (and 300 fps), but we could crank the regulator up to leaking before hitting 280 fps with air. Since he needed quick and reliable refills for pump tournaments, we pulled out the washers and went back to full time air.

I know a longer barrel will get me 30 fps on some of my markers, and a heavily devolumized chamber is worth about 30 fps also. Either one is significant, together is probably too much.

If all else fails try changing the frame , I chop paint like a mofo when using a two finger trigger . I guess i just fat finger it too much causing short stroke chopping, hopefully you don't have this affliction too.

i also tried it with my 14 assasin barrel. the shortie is a freak barrel if that makes a difference to you

Were you able to check the velocity with the longer barrel? I guess another test would be to turn the velocity down to something relatively low and see how the breaks go. That might help narrow it down between popping balls on air pressure or some other form of abuse.

I would also recommend hand-feeding it or putting a shake and bake on it. I had the same problem when I was putting brittle paint through a prophecy that was turned up all the way. After I turned the speed down, it stopped breaking paint.

My rt with a 12 year old wire v nubbin worked fine with my agitator. When I put my new halo 2 on it I had a bad double feeding issue due to the loader forcing paint past the nubbin. New style plastic nubbin and all issues were gone. That was with the halo in factory settings. With that loader on its fastest feed rate I would deff throw an old agitator loader or something on there to take that force feed out of the equation. And then it could just be a bad batch of paint and your hunting for a problem that isn't even gun related.

The detents are easy to check. All you need to do is look at the breach area where they screw into the body. If any of the screw edge is felt inside the body, then the detents are in too far. Only the ball detent should be protruding into the breach.

As mentioned, the efficiency mod could be your problem. A regular level 10 bolt setup requires about 500 psi or more in the chamber to work at the desired velocity. If you use a shorter barrel, that pressure would be higher. When you reduce the chamber volume, you increase the pressure requirement. I don't know the pressure numbers on these, but I'm betting your chamber pressure is probably up around 650 psi or higher. That would require about 850psi or higher coming into the valve. You are showing 800psi on the gauge, but it could be even lower at 700 or 750psi given the error on these things. The lower the differences between the input and chamber, the less likely you are going to get a good seal at the valve orings. If these orings do not seal, then the bolt sticks forward. Rapid firing makes it worst, because the lower pressure differential reduces the flow rate and further accentuates the problem.

The other thing you might want to look at is the alignment of the valve with the body. Check for rub marks inside the breach area or where the bolt goes through the body washer. Is that washer flush or flat so the bolt spring can't bind or twist on the bolt inside the body?

Except for the Automag in front, its usually the man behind the equipment that counts.

The detents are easy to check. All you need to do is look at the breach area where they screw into the body. If any of the screw edge is felt inside the body, then the detents are in too far. Only the ball detent should be protruding into the breach.

first thing I checked

Originally Posted by athomas

If these orings do not seal, then the bolt sticks forward.

when I took the valve out... the bolt was still forward.

Originally Posted by athomas

The other thing you might want to look at is the alignment of the valve with the body. Check for rub marks inside the breach area or where the bolt goes through the body washer. Is that washer flush or flat so the bolt spring can't bind or twist on the bolt inside the body?